Date: March 8th, 2023
Location: Hvolsvöllur, Iceland (Crazy, I know!)
It’s a little funny writing this travel journal about a study abroad trip I’m about to go on while I’m on a different study abroad trip. But it doesn’t take away from the experience one bit! Anyways, hi! My name is Danielle Dedeaux and right now I’m a sophomore at Penn State who is majoring in geography with a big focus on climatology. At Penn State, I’m a member of the Geography club, campus band, and I’m even the secretary of Women in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences. Though outside of school, I really like reading, writing, listening to and playing music, and more!
Soon I’ll be visiting a couple of countries in Europe to do a capstone project where I will be using geospatial technology to help create visualizations and analyses of COVID-19 data! Specifically, I’ll be spending two weeks jumping around from Austria, Germany, Slovenia, and the Czech Republic! While there, I’ll get to learn from and work with other international students and working adult professionals to develop skills that will help prepare for my career after graduation.
I chose this program for a few reasons. As a geography major, one of the best skills you can have is being proficient with geospatial analysis tools. This program is a great way to not only learn about geospatial analysis, it’s perfect for helping you understand and apply all the knowledge you learn in the class in a real life, meaningful setting. Additionally, the fact that you’ll end the program with a capstone that showcases your skills was a pretty big motivator.
Another reason why I chose this program was because the project we’ll be doing is focused on COVID-19. It’s hard to find someone who wasn’t affected by COVID in some way. And because of that, the pandemic is a very popular and somewhat “new” hot topic. While it doesn't have much to do with my love for climatology, I know it’s important to expand my horizons. I also know that doing some work and analyzing data about COVID allows me to know a lot more about a very important and timely topic. And that’s knowledge that I can share with others so they (and myself) can be more prepared in case something like the COVID-19 pandemic were to happen again!
The last reason I chose this program was pretty simple- the travel. It’s not often you get a relatively good deal on going to four countries at once. I realized that unless my job permits it, I likely won’t have a lot of time to travel when I’m first starting out in the working world. That being said, I wanted to take advantage of this free time (and great price) to get some more travel in! I’m always more than happy to get a new stamp or two on my passport and this is the perfect opportunity. Additionally, my dad has been to the Czech Republic and Germany before for work so his experience in those countries made me want to visit too (as well as brag about how I got to see Austria and Slovenia while he hasn’t been to those places yet).
Either way, I’m excited to learn and I’m excited to explore. Overall, I know this program will help me in so many ways to become a more well-rounded person with knowledge and first-hand experience in so many different things that would be a lot harder to accomplish as I get older and start working. I really hope to get experience working with diverse groups of people, get better at using geospatial tools and programs, and just overall tons of new advice and practice working in professional environments.
Plus a couple of pictures from the different countries and a capstone that showcases my newfound knowledge and handwork about COVID-19 would be nice to bring home too.
One thing I’m a little worried about is the fact that this trip is happening not too long after COVID really started to die down. Of course, I’m currently on another study abroad trip and so far everything is running pretty fine, it doesn’t change the fact that COVID had such a big impact on the world (after all, that’s the main reason for this trip in particular). Different places and countries are going to have different rules and etiquette for traveling and a tourist/guest/visiting student there. And what we knew before the pandemic could have easily changed after the pandemic based on how severe the pandemic really was for each individual place. I’ve traveled to Europe before (and I”m currently in Europe right now for my other trip) but I can’t hel but wonder if there were certain big cultural shifts and protocols that I’m not aware of yet in the locations I’m traveling to. And these things could easily be under reported at this time because the pandemic only truly started slowing down not too long ago.
Another fear I have is just something going on with the war between Russia and Ukraine. There are a lot of factors that go into armed conflicts of that scale and while there’s always at least one country separating where my group would be from any either of the warring countries, it is a lot closer to the conflict compared to being back home across the Atlantic in America. Though this is still a bit more of a minor fear for me. I know that a lot of the world has their eyes on that conflict so if something were to happen that would put me and everyone else in the program in immediate danger, I know people back home would be doing everything in their power to get us back. That’s if too.
But in order to prepare myself to get the most out of this experience, I’m researching a lot about the places that I’ll be visiting. It’s always good to be culturally aware! And I might find something extremely interesting about the places I’m visiting and we will want to go see some of the landmarks or important locations that I found during my research. I’ll also ask my dad a bit about his time over in Germany and the Czech Republic. He spent a lot of time over there so I think it would be nice to hear what it was like for him while over there, what places he wants me to see, and more. Additionally, it would be cool to see how my experience differs from his.
Also, since the geospatial capstone project is a huge part of this program, I’m making sure I learn a lot about the tools I’ll potentially be using while on my trip. Since I’m a bit more of a novice when it comes to that topic, I want to be prepared for any obstacles that are thrown in my way. Additionally, if I have to spend the whole trip learning about these tools from scratch, I might miss out on a lot of cool information or important tips that could help me out in the future. And that’s exactly what I don’t want. I want to just be able to learn as much as I can so naturally, that means I should be getting a head start as soon as I possibly can!
Though while traveling, I’m sure I’ll get to learn a lot first-hand about Germany and Austria and Slovenia and the Czech Republic and what those countries are like for visitors and residents. And I don’t doubt I’ll learn a lot about their food, culture, and education system since I believe I’ll be working with other university students and working professionals while I’m there. Plus I know I’m going to be able to learn so much about geospatial analysis tools and COVID just through doing my project and working alongside others who are more (or sometimes even less) experienced than I am.
I’d say one of my biggest strengths going into this experience is the fact that I already do have some travel experience and experience working with different types of people. I’m always willing to be cooperative and to learn from others when the moment arises, and I can always try to be a team player. I can easily bring in what I know and mix it with what other people are offering to help ensure we can get what we need!
Though I will say I can be a bit of a worrier and overly cautious. It can be a super helpful trait at times and lately and I feel as though I’ve been getting a lot better at improving upon it overall, I still don’t want it to get in the way of any opportunities I may face. That’s why I’m hoping that on this trip, I can really learn how to step out of my comfort zone and take chances without spending all of my time second guessing or even triple guessing my decision before I made it. Being in this new environment with tons of new opportunities and things to try out and explore will be the perfect place to help grow and improve when it comes to making sure I don’t let my caution get in the way of a potentially great and wonderful experience.
Anyways, that's enough from me for now! This particular program has its abroad part of the study abroad experience in a couple of weeks so you won't hear anything about my actual travels for a while. But it's always nice to prepare and to think ahead! But thanks for tuning in! I hope you'll follow me on this adventure as I explore new countries, tools, and topics of all kinds! Until next time!
-DD
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I am so proud of you and will be praying for you during your travels. I am confident everything will be fine. Your passion for learning is amazing. Getting to travel to different countries is truly a blessing and very beneficial for you. Love you, aunt Sandra.